St. Bruno of Segni

Bruno was born circa 1045 in Solero either to nobles or parents of modest means named Andrea and Guglielmina. He spent his theological education in a Benedictine convent of Santa Perpetua near his town in Asti and in Bologna at the college there where he also studied humanities and the liberal arts. He became a canon in Siena in 1073 after his ordination to the priesthood around that stage and was assigned as a pastor there. This happened after he decided to go to Montecassino to be a monk but during the trip fell ill in Siena where he remained subject to the needs of the local bishop who thought it best to name Bruno as the cathedral canon. Bruno became noted for his defending orthodox faith and for his extensive knowledge of Sacred Scripture though was better known for his teachings and ardent devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. Bruno later moved to Rome in about 1079 after he was summoned there on the account of his broad learning and great piousness where he was a guest of Blessed Pietro Igneo. Bruno was appointed as the Bishop of Segni in 1079 after the canons selected him and Pope Gregory VII himself - a good friend to Bruno and who often sought his counsel - granted episcopal consecration to him in 1080. In 1079 in Rome - before the pope himself - he obliged Berengarius of Tours to retreat his heretical claim that there existed no real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist in a move that won him much praise and admiration. He died at Segni in mid-1123. Bruno's published works are considered to be exegetical for the most part. He authored commentaries on the Book of Job and the Psalms as well as on the four Gospels. Bruno also wrote on the lives of Pope Leo IX and Pietro di Anagni. There are 145 homilies of his that are still preserved. His feast is kept on July 18.